Resist this! Embodying the contradictory positions and collective possibilities of transformative resistance

Abstract

Youth participatory action research (YPAR) and arts-informed approaches reflect a source of critical resistance at the intersection of theory and practice (praxis). Our discussion draws upon Mestizo Arts & Activism (MAA), a participatory action research collective made up of young people who focused their research on the educational rights of undocumented students (http//educatexcambio.blogspot.com/); coupled with the emotional and economic impacts of stereotypes of immigrant communities (http//www.myspace.com/dreamingofnojudgement). Informed by participatory action research and critical youth studies, art opens up space for youth researchers to collectively process and question social issues they confront in their community while embodying forms of resistance that inspire and create collective participation and action toward social justice. This reflective account narrates our multiple and contradictory experience with resistance and YPAR. By blending personal opinion, theory, and practice we discuss “Caution,” a youth generated photograph, as a thickly layered complex site of transformative resistance.

Keywords:

• youth participatory action research (YPAR)
• young people
• resistance
• arts and activism

Notes

1. See Fulton (2008).